Triple Throat Slashing

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This is the hair salon where three women met their untimely deaths.

When a customer showed up for her 11 a.m. manicure on Nov. 6, 2001, at the Hair Gallery in Florence, Mont., she had no idea of the grisly scene she would be walking into.

Instead of being greeted by the always-chipper Dorothy Harris, the 62-year-old salon owner, the customer found Dorothy lying in a pool of blood.

The only other people in the salon were the manicurist, 44-year-old Brenda Patch, and her client, 71-year-old Cynthia Paulus. The three women, all grandmothers, were dead. Each of their throats had been slashed.
 

Tracking A Ghost

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This man was seen around the salon right before the bodies were discovered.

The Ravalli County Sheriff's Department quickly converged on the salon and was sickened by the brutality of such a crime never seen before in their peaceful community.

Detectives say it appeared as though the women were ambushed and murdered in cold blood. Nothing was stolen from the salon, so a random robbery did not appear to be the motive. None of the victims had been sexually assaulted.

Police had no suspects until witnesses began to come forward about seeing an oddly dressed stranger lurking around town the morning of the murders. Several described the man wearing a black duster and fedora-style hat. Investigators were especially interested in the fact that this same man was seen walking outside the salon by the customer who had discovered the murders.

Sketches of the man were released with the hopes that someone would recognize something that could help them identify the stranger. It still remains their best clue.

Sketches Released Of Lurker

Sketches of the man were released with the hopes that someone would recognize something that could help them identify the stranger. It still remains their best clue.

Murder Charges Dismissed For Drug-Dealing Con

Lincoln Benavides
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On Nov. 6, 2001, three murders shook the community of Florence, Mont. In April 2008, federal prosecutors named two suspects while family members of the victims saw the accused killers for the first time.

Brian Walter Weber, then 31, was named by federal prosecutors as the man who killed Dorothy Harris, Cynthia Paulus and Brenda Patch at Harris' Hair Gallery in November 2001. 

Authorities believed that Weber actually committed the murders at the behest of another man, Lincoln Benavides. Court documents stated that Benavides was the leader of a meth ring that distributed the narcotic in Idaho and western Montana. Prosecutors believed that Benavides ordered the hit on the three women as a retaliatory measure against someone who owed him a drug debt.

Both men faced three counts of murder while engaged in drug trafficking as well as four counts of violent crimes in aid of racketeering. Both sets of charges carried a potential death sentence or life in prison in addition to a total of more than of $4 million in fines.

In November 2009, Benavides struck a deal with prosecutors that also led to the murder charges’ dismissal. However, he is still currently serving a 15-year sentence on drug dealing charges.

Due to lack of evidence, in January 2010 a federal judge dismissed the murder charges against Weber without prejudice. That means he can still be prosecuted at a later time. Weber will be serving time on meth charges in a federal prison in Oregon until 2015.